400m Women Final Paris Olympics

Does nobody think the Pryce progression is ridiculous? Earlier in the year her name was never mentioned and her first pro race she hammers seasoned professionals like Kaczmarek and Klaver. Ok she may be a one time freak athlete but it doesn’t sit with me how someone can progress like that in such a short space of time to a potential Olympic gold medalist even after a long season starting in January! Great timing for her though in Olympic year ..

My predictions

1. Paulino

2. Rhasidat/ Salwa ( she is a dark horse and we know her times can drop when it matters).

3. Kaczmarek

4. Pryce/ Klaver ( can Pryce really hold up 3 tough rounds am not so sure)

5. Williams/ American runner

I think so as well. NCAA athletes are running on fumes, but she's going faster. Don't know what they are doing down in Jamaica...

1. Pryce

2. Paulino

3. Kaczmarek

4. Rhasidat

5 Naser

The announcer failed to do his homework on Kaczmarek's age. He may have confused her with Swiety-Ersetic. It wasn't as bad as the other Brit announcer who did the Euro U-18 meet and shouted that the new Polish 400m star Kus' had gone "from 1st to 4th" when she had moved from 4th to 2nd.

Kaczmarek DOES NOT train with the Dutch sprint/hurdle group. That was Kielbasinska who had a single good season there before breaking down because Meuwly failed to take into account her age and the amount of miles on her odometer. This is pretty typical of what happens with his athletes. There are incredible results from a few, but also lots regression and injuries. Kaczmarek is coached by Marek Rozej.

As for the medals in the women's 400m I think that it will be as follows:

1.) Paulino (she's talented and proven in a tournament style meet)

2.) Pryce (lots of races this year but she's young and has been prepared to run at championships)

3.) Kaczmarek (like Paulino but a little less talented)

Adeleke is a bit of a wildcard. She's well coached and prepared, but she's also been running 200's and that tends create too fine a speed endurance edge, not what's needed in the 400.

Naser, Anning, Klaver and one from Ellis, Williams or Nielsen should round out the final. Holmes won't make it. She doesn't have the talent to be in this conversation.

i think itll be a battle between the jamaican,the dominican,and the polish lady,and perhaps gold will be won in 48.5 or so. There are always surprises though. netherlands,ireland,bahrain and bahamas will probably have finalists,if shaunae miller uibo is fully fit. USA should have one.

I don't disagree but can you elaborate on this? I'm curious what you mean.

This was the best comment. I was shocked when that Diamond League announcer said Kaczmarek was 32. The only conclusion was he confused her for Swiety-Ersetic but that makes no sense because she hasn't been overly visible and not at all improving.

Kielbasinka squeezed about as much as she could expect out of the end of her career. The hard training got her on the podium a couple of times. I never thought she would be viable in 2024.

But I agree that Meuwly's training cuts both ways. There are many runners in that group who are either stalled or going backwards. Nobody on the women's side has emerged to join Bol and Klaver. The other two on the relay -- Peeters and Lisanne de Witte -- do not train with Meuwly. And the men's side has been a disaster. It will get even worse when Liemarvin Bonevacia retires next year. I assume he will stick around one more year because European Indoor Championships will be held at Apeldoorn.

Regarding Meuwly's group it should also be noted that his top assistant is departing at the end of the season. Bram Peters was Bol's personal coach beginning when he was roughly 25. He has been with her several years longer than Meuwly has. Peters got the job as lead assistant more or less as a package deal with Bol moving to train at Papendal in fall 2019.

Now Peters will capitalize on recent results and his rising stature by leaving for Belgium at age 32. I'm not sure if he becomes the top guy. I saw one article several weeks ago in a Dutch paper.

I don't think Meuwly himself is signed beyond Paris. He has made it known he wants to stay. If so I'm sure he'll use leverage toward salary and other matters. Sifan Hassan strangely impacts things toward overall impression of Dutch athletics and 2024 Paris results, even though she has nothing to do with his group.

Sydney certainly made the correct decision switching back to 400 hurdles. There was never any doubt about that. Simply too much risk at 400 flat. When people come out of nowhere at 400 flat it puts them smack in the range of Sydney's personal best. When they come out of nowhere at 400 hurdles she's still 2 seconds faster.

Its something that I've observed in personal experience and observation and has been confirmed by other coaches who I've spoken to. We use Michael Johnson as an example. The differential between 2x his 200m PB and his 400m PB was 4.6sec. but MJ was trying to do the double and was far better than everyone else so fe people noticed.

Most world class speed based 400m guys are at worst 3.5 and its more typically faster. The two Quincy's for example are likely 2.5 or even closer. My guess would be that the Hall is probably capable of @20.7 and Wilson is MAYBE 21.0. For them, chasing fast 200 times takes away their strength which is likely the ability to process blood lactate better than anyone else.

Since most of the people on this site are distance oriented the same applies to the 800, maybe more so. I have seen countless coaches get excited because their 800 athlete ran a PB in the 400 a week or two out from the championship season and expected big 800 PBs that never happened. These athletes were honed too fine.

Hope that answers the question.

Hence my caveat of guessing the schedule wouldn’t permit the double and assuming neither will be trying it. I didn’t look at the entry lists for either event, good on you for memorizing every athlete entered in every event though, as well as every fact in the world that is public knowledge! My last statement is in the conditional tense which can be used for hypothetical situations like the one I posited, since you have the world’s most amazing memory I assume you’ll notice that next time.

We're very much in agreement.

I do think that Meuwly is a good coach. I've interacted with him a couple of times and he is knowledgable and very generous.

Far too many people only look at a coach's successes though. Bol and Klaver are massive talents and Bonevacia seems like a consummate pro to me. But Del Ponte is broken and has been for years, Tkachuk has joined Kielbasinska in a disappearing act, Lehikoinen and Saalberg are struggling and as you stated, the men other than Liemarvin are embarrassing. A good coach knows when to dial it back, and I don't think Meuwly understands that.

Peeters really impresses me. Her coach has squeezing every bit of talent out of her. De Witte didn't like the situation at Paapendahl (sp?) and went back to old coach only to blasted for it by the former national coach whose name escapes me.

I'm guessing that Bram Peters will have a large role in Belgium. Jacques Borlee has hinted at retirement and all of his athletes other than Sacoor will probably join him. Sad day for the sport because I think that he's the best 400 coach ever. Doom's coach (Gilson) retired from his position as national coach but still works with Alexander and I doubt that will change.